India slams Pakistan’s ‘illegal’ call on Kashmir

New Delhi, Aug 13 (IANS) Repudiating Islamabad’s attempt to internationalise the Kashmir issue, India Wednesday warned Pakistan to eschew such rhetoric and said it “is gratuitous, illegal and only reflects reversion to a mindset that has led to no good consequences for Pakistan in the past”. “The government of India finds deeply objectionable the series of remarks by the official spokesman and leaders in Pakistan on recent events in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said.

“We are witnessing a recurrence of Pakistani rhetoric and allegations that are factually wrong and that bear no relationship to reality,” he added.

“To call for international involvement in the sovereign internal affairs of India is gratuitous, illegal and only reflects reversion to a mindset that has led to no good consequences for Pakistan in the past,” he underlined.

“It is not too late for Pakistani leaders and spokesmen to desist from the course of action that they have recently embarked upon, and we would urge them to do so forthwith,” said the foreign office spokesperson in a statement.

This is New Delhi’s second warning to Islamabad in as many days to desist from meddling in its internal affairs.

Pakistan Wednesday had urged the international community to press India for “restrain” in the Kashmir Valley, where 20 people were killed in police firings early this week during protests over the land transfer to a board that manages the Hindu shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva.

“We are deeply concerned over the deteriorating situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir which is resulting in loss of life and property of the Kashmiri people and violation of their human rights,” foreign ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq told reporters in a weekly media briefing in Islamabad.

He called on the UN and human rights organisations to take notice of the “gross violation of human rights of Kashmiri people, unwarranted violence against them and their economic blockade perpetrated by extremist elements”.

India should be impressed upon “to observe restrain and rein-in the extremist elements that are seeking economic destruction of the Kashmiri people”, he added.